There are several potential causes for leaking from a toilet: 1) rusted shut-off valve, 2) rusted water supply hose, 4) aged rubber gasket (between water tank and toilet seat or toilet and base), 5) rusted nut and bolt (for fixing tank on toilet, toilet and base), 6) flapper valve inside the water tank.
Rusted shut-off valves and water supply hoses to toilet or sink can cause significant water damage and a lot of hassles when they burst. The brass shut-off valve and water supply hoses typically installed by some builders have an average life of 12 years. Many rusted vales/hoses will not leak if you do not operate on them. If your house is over 12 years old, and you notice rust on these parts, it is better to replace them before a major leak occurs. We learned the lesson hard way! Replacing shut-off valves can be a little bit problematic due to its connection to water pipes. We hired a plumber to replace all shut off valves and water supply hoses during repair from the water damage.
Leaking from aged rubber gasket and rusted bolts/nuts is usually east to spot - bright brownish water trace near the base of a toilet. They are not hard to replace, but not easy either if the rust is severe.
Recently we noticed rusty water by a toilet, it turned out that the leak came from the rusted bolts. All we need was a $5.99 plumber toilet pack - which includes a thick gasket, bolts, nuts and washers. The main difficult during the repair was to remove the rusted bolts and nuts from a very tight space under the tank.
Leaking from flapper is easy to fix and has no water damage consequence.
We replaced one full toilet once due to cracks on the water tank.
Usually there is no need to buy $100s new toilet to fix toilet problems, a few bucks and some time, one can fix toilet problems DIY.
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| rusted nut an bolt |
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| new bolt, nut and rubber washer |
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| rubber gasket |
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| fixed $5.99 + 0.5 hour labor |
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